A YORK road will be used to test ground-breaking new technology which would tell drivers how to avoid red lights.

Infrastructure company AECOM has won £30,000 in a national "Roads for the Future" competition, and is using a computer model of the busy A59 to try out its ideas.

The idea, which came from York AECOM's Heather Hawkins and Katy Thorpe, is to use smart signals to tell drivers and vehicles how fast to go to arrive at the next set of traffic lights just as they turn green, cutting both congestion and and the pollution caused by ‘stop-go’ driving.

Principal consultant Heather Hawkins said: "We are excited and eager to get started so we can better understand the potential impact of vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies on our local road network in York.

"We are fortunate to be living and working in a city which has chosen to be an early innovator, deploying and testing these technologies on street through existing research programmes – it’s truly inspiring and we are grateful to be a part of it!"

The competition is being run by the National Infrastructure Commission, Highways England and Innovate UK. AECOM is one of five to make the shortlist and win £30,000, with an extra £50,000 on offer for the final winner.

In April the City of York Council launched another technology trial on the A59 corridor, which uses smart car and mobile phone data to track congestion and model traffic flow, with the aim of using that information to tackle congestion.